


In the Quiet of the Night

by HowsMyDriving



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Cuddling, Discussion of Children, Fluff, It's all fluff, Late Night Conversations, M/M, they're in love and they're together and that's enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowsMyDriving/pseuds/HowsMyDriving
Summary: Joe and Nicky discuss what they must exchange to always be by each other's sides.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 5
Kudos: 161





	In the Quiet of the Night

It is late- the stillness of the night only tempered by the occasional breeze, rustling of branches, and the pond of frogs behind the house. Nicky is on his side, his eyes closed and a soft smile on his face as Joe holds him, folded against his back. Nicky can feel Joe’s easy breath on the back of his neck, the simple in and out as soothing as it is familiar. 

“Nicolò…” Joe’s voice is raspy from disuse and the word rumbles where the two are pressed together. 

“Hmm?” Nicky prompts. 

“Do you ever wish we could raise children?” The question is unexpected and Nicky tries to turn to look his lover in the face, but Joe’s hold only tightens. A slight tension has entered the arm around Nicky’s torso and the breath against his neck is no longer smooth and regulated. This is something about which Joe is worried. Nicky takes a moment before he answers. He wants to be honest, as he always is with his Yusuf. 

“Sometimes,” he finally responds. “But it is not in the cards for us, hm?” 

Joe inhales shakily. “I am sorry.” The words are nothing more than a whisper. 

This time Nicky pushes harder and Joe releases him enough that he can roll to his other side, his eyes searching Joe’s expression. His eyes are sorrowful, a tight v etched into his forehead. 

“There is no reason to apologize, amore mio. This is not your fault. It is a part of the gift of our tenuous immortality. It is a part of the gift of being together always. I would not trade time with you for anything.” 

“It pains me to be unable to give you something you want. Something you deserve.” 

“Deserve?” Nicky picks out the word with surprise. 

“You would be a wonderful father, Nicolò,” and suddenly Joe’s voice, though quiet, is fervent. “You would be the most kind, the most compassionate. You would instruct your little ones with endless patience and encouragement.” 

Nicky traces over Joe’s features with a feather-light touch, his fingers grazing over his forehead, his cheek, around his eyes, the shape of his lips. There is silence between them as Nicky memorizes Joe’s face with his hand for the millionth time. 

“Yusuf.” Joe’s eyes have fallen closed and they flit open to meet Nicky’s. “You are enough. You have always been enough.” 

Nicky is intense as he meets Joe’s gaze, the openness and trust in his eyes born from their many years of loving each other wholly and recklessly. 

“Perhaps, one day, just as quickly as our immortality was granted to us, it will leave us. All at once, together, just as we entered this life, it will be gone. I will slice my finger cutting onions or you will be careless while cleaning your blade and it will not heal. Perhaps then we will raise children, an armload of them, and they will be the best of both of us. We will grow old together and use our last lifetime to nurture our own next generation. We will pass on all the love we have been selfishly keeping just between us two, bestowing it on those who will call us ‘father’ and ‘grandfather’ and all the other titles we have yet to hold. Perhaps this will be our fate someday.”

Nicky has to work to keep his tone hopeful rather than wistful. How he would love to wake up to the sound of his children laughing, to see Yusuf cooing to their baby, to revel in the raucous amusement when their child is just as stubborn as he is. Nicky will hold this dream close to his heart and take it out on days when he feels more monster than human, more warrior than man.

“For now, I will satisfy myself by fathering the new immortals. They need just as much patience and encouragement as a newborn sometimes.” 

Joe huffs out a laugh, his breath warm against Nicky’s face. Nicky leans forward, closing the last inch of space between them to press a soft kiss to Joe’s lips. 

“You are my everything, Nicolò,” Joe murmurs when they part. 

“And you are mine, my Yusuf.” 

As Nicky turns back over and Joe tucks him carefully against his body, Nicky’s back to Joe’s chest, just as it has been for nearly a century, just as it will be for centuries more, the peaceful stillness of the room returns. There is nothing but the breeze, the branches, the frogs, and the breathing of the two immortals, quiet and smooth. 

Joe’s hand is laced with Nicky’s across their bodies, their fingers intertwined, and as Nicky feels himself fall towards sleep, he thinks 'yes, this is enough.'


End file.
